Geology of the Antarctic Peninsula

This rifting created low relief basins which allowed for the transport of sediments and subsequent deposition of sedimentary rocks.

The clastic component of these sediments was derived from the weathering, erosion, and subsequent transportation of metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary material from Gondwana, then to the northeast.

The creation of the inner magmatic arc is characterized by terrestrial clastic deposition and the early stages of acidic volcanism and plutonism.

[4] The Mesozoic clastic sequence (Number 2-Figure 2) consists of the Mount Flora Formation (MFF),[4] which is a 270 m thick package of plant-bearing coarse sedimentary breccias and conglomerates, with a limited amount of interbedded sandstones and shales.

[4] The acidic volcanism that created the KGF sequence is associated with plutonic intrusions during the Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous in the northern Antarctic Peninsula.

[4] These plutonic intrusions could have been caused by the doming and rifting in the continental margin of Gondwana at the onset of oceanic slab subduction.

[4] Movement of the fault activity was caused by the counterclockwise rotation of the Antarctic Continent with respect to the subduction zone.

[2] Slab rollback and South Shetland Trench oceanward retreat have led to extensional forces acting on the leading edge of the overriding plate.